The Night Journey by Kathryn Lasky
"The Night Journey" by Kathryn Lasky is a historical fiction novel that intertwines the experiences of Sashie, a young girl escaping czarist Russia, with those of her great-granddaughter Rachel, who navigates life in contemporary America. The narrative alternates between Sashie's perilous journey and Rachel's more secure existence, highlighting the generational connection between them. Rachel's desire to learn about her family's past contrasts with the expectations placed on her to engage in polite conversation, leading to clandestine storytelling sessions where Sashie recounts their family's escape.
The story is enriched by themes of family, cultural heritage, and resilience, as Sashie's family cleverly disguises themselves as Purim players to evade detection. This journey is marked by both tense and humorous moments, reflecting the complexities of their experience as they encounter soldiers while attempting to cross the border. The novel is illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, whose drawings enhance the emotional depth and historical context of the narrative. Lasky’s work not only sheds light on a lesser-explored chapter of Jewish history but also earned her the National Jewish Book Award in 1982, underscoring its significance in young adult literature.
Subject Terms
The Night Journey by Kathryn Lasky
First published: 1981; illustrated
Subjects: Family and social issues
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Historical fiction and psychological realism
Time of work: 1900 and the early 1980’s
Recommended Ages: 10-15
Locale: Russia and Minnesota
Principal Characters:
Rachel Lewis , a thirteen-year-old girl who helps her great-grandmother relive childhood memoriesSashie , Rachel’s great-grandmother, who tells the story of her escape from czarist Russia when she was nine years oldJoe , Sashie’s father, a machinistGisha , Sashie’s young unmarried aunt, an excellent seamstressIda , Sashie’s motherEd , Rachel’s fatherLeah , Rachel’s mother and Sashie’s granddaughterWolf , a man haunted by his past who helps the family escapeReuven Bloom , a second man who assists the family, who later becomes Sashie’s husband
Form and Content
The Night Journey connects Sashie’s childhood experiences in czarist Russia with her great-granddaughter Rachel’s experiences at home and at school in the United States. The story within a story shifts back and forth from the dangerous plotting and journey out of Russia to Rachel’s secure life. Rachel is expected to spend time visiting with her “old old” great-grandmother about topics of conversation that are approved by her family. Both she and Nana Sashie are displeased with this arrangement: Rachel wants to hear the story that Sashie wants to tell about her family’s life in and escape from Russia. Sashie tells Rachel the tale in small segments in their private time together, often in the middle of the night when Rachel sneaks into her great-grandmother’s room. In the contemporary story, Rachel is involved in coaching her friend in the lead part for the school musical, an interesting counterpoint to the guise of Purim players that Sashie’s family uses for their escape. The stories also intertwine when Rachel finds the top piece of the family’s samovar (an urn with a spigot used for making tea) when rummaging though the scrap box for costume material. In honor of Leah’s birthday, Ed manages to reconstruct an authentic samovar, which Nana Sashie insists on keeping in her room.
The larger portion of the escape story is devoted to the planning and preparation rather than to the actual events of the escape. Sashie has overheard the adults talk of escape and of their frustration with their inability to devise a plan. One night, she conceives a plan of traveling as Purim players. Sashie’s family members lend their strengths to solve each of the problems to be encountered on the journey: Her mother, Ida, bakes the gold to be used as a bribe into hamantaschen (hat-shaped cookies); her aunt, Gisha, sews Purim costumes that can be reversed to resemble peasant dress; and her father, Joe, wins the trust of Wolf, who devises a plan to carry them out of town in a wagon under a load of chickens. Each person is allowed to take one special item. Gisha brings a photograph of herself and a friend with Sashie, Sashie chooses a cloth book that Gisha had made of scenes of Nikolayev, and Joe brings his box of tools. Ida chooses the samovar even though it seems an unwise choice because of its size. She wears its top as a crown for her costume, and the cookies are packed in the other part. Narrowly escaping detection by the czar’s soldiers, Wolf with his quick thinking is able to get them to the countryside, where Reuven Bloom provides a wagon, a hot meal, and an open-air violin concert. Sashie is moved by the passion of the man and his music and knows that their paths will meet again.
The incidents that occur as the family drives to the border are sometimes lighthearted, sometimes sad, and sometimes frightening. Sashie feels all things—from the wide night sky, to the colors and sights of the forest, to her aunt’s sadness at leaving behind a life that she loved. The tension builds as they twice encounter a band of soldiers. They pass the first time in the Purim costumes and the second time as a mourning Christian family in peasant clothing. Although tense, the actual border crossing is also humorous as Sashie, in her anger that the bribed guard is taking the samovar, switches the gold-filled cookies for ordinary ones. As the family members celebrate the escape, they discover, even to Sashie’s surprise, that most of their remaining cookies contain gold.
The book is written using third-person narration, but in the epilogue the reader learns that the writer is a nineteen-year-old Rachel, who has matured and gained perspective, as well as more details about the story, in the intervening years.
The black-and-white drawings by Trina Schart Hyman help convey the strengths of the characters and, with their romantic quality, the mood and passion of the story. The illustrations provide a sense of time and place for both the contemporary story and the tale from the past.
Critical Context
Comparatively little fiction about this phase of Jewish history has been written for young adults. Readers often learn more about the significance of events in a historical period by identifying with individuals who have experienced those events rather than from reading numbers, dates, and generalizations of facts. Kathryn Lasky has made a strong contribution to this understanding with her compelling story of one family’s ordeal. The traditions, stories, and customs included in The Night Journey not only add to the richness of the story but also foster understanding of the Jewish heritage. For her contribution in this area, Lasky received the National Jewish Book Award for The Night Journey in 1982.